Stuffyland 2 and Holiday themes
Mystery in Stuffyland 2 A sequel to Mystery in Stuffyland had been long brewing. The studio wanted to return to their premier film with a scope that would be twice as big as before, with new and old characters and a more complex story. Unlike the first, Mystery in Stuffyland 2 was scripted by Bambrough, with Veerman not having a lot of say in the storyline. Ultimately, this led to disagreements throughout shooting, and a large delay in production. After roughly half of the finished film was shot, CAW Studios regrouped, and decided to throw out the script and return to the impromptu style that made the first so successful. Halfway through production, Chinchog by Richel Studios closed down. They had already been having troubled negotiations with CAW Studios, which had made the studio consider switching production companies for the sequel to the more obvious choice, Blankeyz Films. However, at that time their relations weren’t yet fully established, as Giant Rabbit Chase had yet to be completed. Also, Chinchog by Richel co-owned the rights to the material, claiming they had to be willing to give up the rights which they were not. Finally, they agreed to produce Mystery in Stuffyland 2 as their final project, but severely cut back the budget and shooting schedule. This meant that much of what CAW Studios had been planning to film couldn’t be done, resulting in them being forced to conclude the film at the end of act 2. Despite the reduced budget, they went about filming cleverly, still managing to film the major chase sequence at the end of act 2, which ended up marking the end of the film. In the end credits, it is stated that Mystery in Stuffyland 2 would be the last film in the series and that no others would be made after it. It can be assumed that this is true, as no word on any sequel has been heard since the release. Mystery in Stuffyland 2 was released in October of 2010, to the similarly middling success of its predecessor. Had the studio been able to film the complete scripted story, Mystery in Stuffyland 2 would have seen Fred, his mother and the other stuffies on the Crazy Train/Wagon time travel to a future Stuffyland, which would be set upstairs instead of in the basement. They would have some misadventures there with new characters, and bring some of them back to 1990 when they discover more magic dish soap. They would return to 1990 Stuffyland where they would end up living. Chief Clownfish—in celebration of Fred’s return—decides to put on a talent show called Stuffy’s Got Talent, the title being a reference to America’s Got Talent. It would feature multiple characters performing, ending with Fred’s victory which upsets a fellow contestant whom he must put in jail. Despite being extensively planned, none of it was filmed and the studio has not expressed any interest in filming the third act for any subsequent releases. Holiday Specials To coincide with Halloween, CAW Studios aimed to release two Halloween specials, one produced by Blankeyz Films and the other to be self produced. The first was Grandpa’s Monsters, a creepy comedy about an old man trying to hunt down a monster that infiltrates his basement. Despite a smooth production, it wasn’t met with much praise. As for the second Halloween special Pumpkin Dance!, which was essentially compiled footage of an inflatable pumpkin dancing to the Men in Hats song Safety Dance, it was better received, but neither managed to leave much of an impression. Examining their consistency and looking ahead at future and yet-unreleased projects, CAW Studios decided to make another attempt at coinciding with a celebrated time to gain more interest in their work, tentatively planning a Christmas campaign to release a new video every other day of December leading up to Christmas. Working with Blankeyz Films to make this daring plan a reality, CAW Studios officially announced at the end of November their winter holiday plan. This led to a sequel to Blankey Attackz! being made before it was even released. Although the ending of Blankey Attackz! ended with an intentional cliff hanger, it was originally planned to see how well the film would do before pursuing it as a series. Giant Dog Attackz! was shot and completed just in time for the December video campaign. Blankey Attackz! was released late in November, and although the response wasn’t greatly positive, it was enough to make CAW Studios and Blankeyz Films suspect that it would pick up more momentum as the series progressed. This would be CAW Studios first foray into a series, and wouldn’t be their last. Giant Dog Attackz! was the first of the December video campaign, coming out December 2nd, 2010. CAW Studios had to plan farther ahead than usual for their releases, which made this a stressful time for the studio. Their ambitious plan turned out to be more than they could handle, resulting in some of the major releases to be flops upon initial release. Among the December releases was another tribute video—this time to 20th Century Fox’s Predator ''creature—and a trilogy of music videos, the first two dealing with nature and the third a mix of nature and home. The songs were Harvest Moon by Blue Oyster Cult, Black Rain by Ozzy Osbourne, and Hypnotized by Fleetwood Mac, respectively. During the hectic December month, another entry in the ''Stuffy Attackz! series was filmed and released, this one titled Giant Rabbit Attackz! It lacked the quality of the previous two, consequently resulting in a failure. Other planned December releases never came to light, and instead the studio had to settle with lower key entries, such as a collection of interviews from Mystery in Stuffyland that were never featured (these were later inserted into the director’s cut). The final video of the December campaign—a stop motion video featuring a hippo’s antics accompanied by I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas—was one of the only ones to be initially well received. Later on, the Predator Tribute and Harvest Moon music video became larger hits.